Holding Her
by The Raider
Summary: Tara and Willow hold their newborn daughter, Samantha, for the first time.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or any of the characters. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.**

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**Holding Her**

Her green eyes still focused solely on Tara, Willow took another deep breath as she gently stroked her wife's brown hair. To say that she was relieved that her love had finally given birth to their daughter was an understatement, given that she had barely been able to watch Tara in so much pain. But she had stayed with her, holding her hand through every contraction and every push that she had done. And now, in the relative quiet of the hospital room, she found herself simply trying to breathe.

Their daughter was here. The fruit of all their labor over the past months…Goddess, why did she feel like she was talking about some kind of project? That wasn't right. She was talking about their _daughter. _Samantha. They had a daughter named Samantha now…their child…

_Theirs._

"You ok…honey?" Tara asked, her voice filled to the brim with exhaustion. Opening her eyes, she looked at Willow, a small smile coming to her lips.

"I'm alright. Try to get some sleep, baby." Leaning over and pressing a small kiss to the other woman's forehead, Willow smiled back at her. "Can't have you meeting our baby all tired."

"I'm gonna be tired for a while, honey." Chuckling tiredly, Tara closed her eyes, her mind realizing that her wife was right. "I just want to see her…before I sleep…"

"I know, Tara, but you're exhausted…" Brushing some of her love's hair out of her face, Willow couldn't stop herself from giving Tara a small, gentle kiss on her lips. "Just try to go back to sleep, ok?"

"Willow, she's here…our baby is really here…" Her eyes closed against the room around her, Tara moved slightly in her bed, her exhausted body struggling to respond to her commands.

"I know, baby. She's here. But you need to sleep. You're exhausted." A small smile dancing at the edges of her lips, Willow continued to gently stroke her love's hair. "Please sleep? For me?"

"I…I just want to see her…know that I'm not dreaming…" Tara's words had begun to trail off when she heard the door opening. Sluggishly turning her head towards the figure that had entered the room, her eyes widened slightly as she noticed the swaddled pink blanket in the woman's arms.

"Mrs. Rosenberg, Mrs. Maclay?" Slowly approaching the two women, the nurse had a contagious smile on her face that quickly spread to the two wives' lips.

"That's us." Nodding quickly, Willow got back onto her feet, coming to a stop a few inches beside the bed. Looking at her wife, her smile was bursting with happiness as she watched the nurse hand Tara their daughter. Only hearing the nurse leave, her attention full focused on the swaddled bundle in her arms that held their newborn daughter, Tara's mind held only the thought of her baby.

"Hi there…" Smiling somewhat weakly at her daughter, Tara slowly rocked her newborn baby, Samantha's eyes looking up curiously at her, her bottom lip quivering. "Hi…"

"She…she's really here…" Watching with an expression of amazement and disbelief on her face, Willow could move not a muscle as she watched her wife and newborn baby girl. The minutes seemingly passed by as if each one were a mere second. The sight of the love of her life holding their daughter close, the daughter that they had waited months to see and to hold and to love. Looking up from her baby, Tara smiled at her wife, noticing the way that Willow was staring at the two of them.

"Here...honey. You hold her for a while…" Carefully holding Samantha out to Willow, Tara smiled, the tiredness in her face finally beginning to completely overwhelm all of her movements. Gingerly taking her daughter into her arms, Willow could feel her heart beating a mile a minute against her chest. As she looked down at the pair of dark blue eyes staring up at her, she felt every thought in her mind instantly evaporate, leaving only the sound of her heart to fill her head. Time around her seemed to stop, and as she slowly sat back down into the chair at the bed's side, she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Hi?" She said, unsure of what she could say to the bundle she held in her arms. Leaning back in the chair, making sure that she was supporting her daughter's neck and head, Willow mimicked what she had briefly seen her wife do and began to rock Samantha gently back and forth.

"Ta-" Looking up as she started to say her wife's name, Willow froze as she caught sight of her now sleeping wife. Chuckling, she continued to rock Samantha, her gaze froze on Tara's face. "Told ya you needed to sleep, baby."

Looking down at Samantha, Willow noticed that the newborn's eyes were now closed, the image of her new daughter fast asleep in her arms one that she would always remember. Settling into her seat, her arms rocking the baby at a steadily slow pace, she closed her own eyes, her mind filling with thoughts of both the present and the future. As long as she had her two girls, she knew that nothing else would ever matter.


End file.
